


Rokushi 2020: Training: In Which Two Clueless Zombies...Train

by CryptidGrimnoir137



Series: Kingdom Hearts: Rokushi Week 2020 [4]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M, Sparring, Training, Twilight Town (Kingdom Hearts)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:13:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24769831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CryptidGrimnoir137/pseuds/CryptidGrimnoir137
Summary: As Keybearers, Roxas and Xion understand their responsibility to protect the worlds requires diligent training. Their burgeoning feelings for one another complicate things.
Relationships: Axel & Roxas & Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas/Xion (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Kingdom Hearts: Rokushi Week 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1786918
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Rokushi 2020: Training: In Which Two Clueless Zombies...Train

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. It is the property of Square Enix and Walt Disney Studios. This is a creative work that I do not profit off of in any way. 

**Rokushi 2020: Training: In Which Two Clueless Zombies…Train**

It was the duty of a Keybearer to be a light in the darkness and make everyone happy. That was the mentality Sora held, and it was one that Xion shared and Roxas tried to aspire to. To do so, one must be trained in both body and spirit to the fullest extent. The worlds’ security required complete commitment. That’s what Master Aqua said, and that was a heck of a lot harder to aspire to. 

What it meant was training. Roxas was no stranger to training. He had sparred with Dusks loads of times in the Organization…though now that he thought about it, that was awfully cruel. He had destroyed dozens of Dusks, and that had doomed them to fade into nothingness. Or…er, actually, had that led to the Dusks being able to be re-completed? 

Training as a Keyblade wielder was different. There was running—sprints and endurance running. That was pretty fun—Roxas was faster than pretty much all of his friends, except for Riku…who wasn’t exactly a friend. He was even faster than Axel, which didn’t make a whole lot of sense given that Axel had such longer legs. 

The best part of the training was getting to do it with Xion. Sure, Ventus knew all sorts of tricks, and one day, Roxas was going to be able to outrun Riku. And Axel had a better mastery of fire magic then anyone else who held a Keyblade, maybe even better than any other person in any of the worlds ever. But with Xion, it was different. She was already his best friend, and she always would be his best friend, through all worlds and all time. Training with her was great. There was something about it…it didn’t feel like work. 

Which was why Roxas was waiting outside their home, at a far earlier hour than he would normally like to get up—Axel had a point about how nice sleep could be. He was waiting for the chance to start training with Xion. Xion opened the door and closed it gently behind here a moment later. Roxas had taken to liking sleep, but Xion was an early riser. 

“Hi Roxas,” Xion said, brushing some imaginary dirt off her pants. “You’re up early.”

“Couldn’t sleep, so I thought, why not get an early start? I guess we should start running,” Roxas said. “From here to…Sunset Terrace, would you say.”

“Alright,” Xion said. “What about the Underground? Or should we stick to the streets?”

“I think it’s safer if we stick to the streets,” Roxas said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. “If one of us gets hurt, there’d be people around. What do you say?”

“I’d say, I’m already halfway to the Terrace!” Xion cackled. “Catch me if you can, Roxas!”

What?! Xion was laughing her head off and she was already six doors down. Roxas tore after her. He was faster than Xion—way faster, and even with her head-start, he was level with her by the time they reached the end of the block.

“No fair!” Xion called as Roxas ran past her. “You’re cheating!”

“How can I be cheating?” Roxas called. “You cheated with your head-start!”

“Well, you…chug Elixirs!” Xion shouted. “You chug Elixirs and Potions and…and…”

Stopping to think of some other way to tease him made Xion slow down, and that made Roxas run even faster. Maybe he should slow up a little, this wasn’t strictly a race. And he liked running with Xion—running was an important part of training. On the other hand, the look on her face when he ran past her was pretty funny.

Roxas slowed his pace, but he was still much faster than Xion and he made it to Sunset Terrace’s train station a full twenty minutes before Xion. Roxas was starting to get worried by the time Xion came around the bend. She wasn’t running. She was walking. Roxas got more worried—had she twisted her ankle, or maybe gotten sick somehow?

“You okay?”

Xion slowed to a stop and smiled at him. She didn’t look ill. If anything, she looked better than she had when they first started.

“I’m great,” Xion said. “I just got a little side-tracked. Granny was bringing in her newspaper, and we talked for a little while.”

Roxas grinned. “Granny” was the lady who owned and ran their favorite ice cream shop. She had a soft spot for Xion—for Roxas and Axel too, but she seemed to be especially concerned with Xion. After everything horrible that had happened in the Organization, that was nice.

“I think we should run a bit more to warm up,” Roxas said. “But let’s stick together this time.”

“Sounds good,” Xion said. “And instead of the streets, can we go to the forest?”

oooo

The forest in Twilight Town was huge, and there were loads of oak and maple trees. Xion liked it in the forest. It was quieter here than in the neighborhoods, but that wasn’t a bad thing. It wasn’t an eerie sort of quiet, like the Castle That Never Was had been. There were birds chirping—though Xion didn’t really know what kinds of birds they were. And some squirrels too, which were really, really cute. It was quiet in the forest, but it was alive. The forest was alive and that made Xion feel alive.

It was also a lot more fun to run around the trees than it was in the streets, where you had to worry about not hitting someone. And Roxas took to the forest the way Sora and Kairi and Riku took to the seashore. He looked more at home here than he did anywhere else, even their clock tower. It made sense in a way, this was where he had come into the world. When Sora had released his heart, and brought Roxas into existence, this forest was where Roxas had woken up. Well, technically, he had woken up right in front of the Old Mansion, and that was probably a mile or so down the path. 

Roxas was level with her, and he made it look easy. Xion was running as fast as her legs could carry her. Roxas didn’t even look tired. 

They ran down a game trail, where Axel said herds of deer would travel. Xion had only seen a deer once, and that was at a distance. It’d be nice to see a deer close up—maybe even a stag. 

They ran further down the path, where a little stone bridge could be used as a way across a shallow brook. As they got near, a frog leapt from the bank into the water. Xion smiled, She liked frogs. Most of the animals in the forest were nice. 

They ran for a while longer—Xion wasn’t exactly sure how long it was, maybe an hour? Long enough that they could go around the entire game trail twice, finally stopping around the bend from where the Old Mansion. Xion was panting with effort. Roxas, of course, didn’t look the least bit tired. Xion forced herself to focus. She was a Keybearer. It was her responsibility to bring light to the darkness and make everyone happy. And that meant training. And not thinking about how nice it would be to go home and crawl under her covers and sleep, sleep, roll over and sleep some more. It was barely eight in the morning, anyhow. 

Roxas smiled at her. He had such a nice smile. So easy-going. One would never know that Roxas was one of the strongest, most skilled Keyblade wielders across all the worlds. He was way stronger than Xion—and not even Master Aqua or Master Riku could do wield two Keyblades at the same time. Xion had tried a bunch of times, but she’d never come close to being able to do that. 

“What do you think we should do next?” Roxas asked. “I’m getting a little tired of running.”

“How about sparring?” 

oooo

Roxas took a deep breath and summoned both Oathkeeper and Oblivion. It struck him that his Keyblades were radically different from one another. Oathkeeeper was longer and the blade was white. The teeth of the blade were long and narrow, almost like fingers. Oblivion was slightly shorter, jet-black, and its teeth were jagged and tightly-packed. 

Xion favored her Kingdom Key. Technically, it was a replication, but thinking of it as Replica Kingdom Key didn’t really seem fair. It was just as real as any other Keyblade. 

Xion smiled at Roxas and bowed to him politely. Roxas returned her bow—Master Aqua was firm that any sort of combat training be treated with the utmost respect by and between opponents. A moment later, their sparring match began.

It started cautiously. Roxas had the advantage with two Keyblades, but Xion knew spells that Roxas was largely unfamiliar with. He'd have to be careful He shot out a ball of water—it didn’t seem very smart to use fire magic in the forest. Water magic seemed much safer by comparison. 

“Reflega!” Xion called. From the point of her Keyblade, a transparent barrier formed. The ball of water splashed against it, but the barrier held true and the water fell off the sides, soaking the earth.

Roxas thought quickly. He could use that to his advantage. He was wearing sneakers but Xion had those town boots. Would Xion be able to move as quickly if the earth beneath her feet was wetter? She could lose her footing, and then Roxas would be able to beat her. 

Roxas pointed both his Keyblades up above his head. Xion darted towards him, Keyblade in hand. She shot a beam of light out from the point of the Keyblade’s teeth and Roxas just managed to deflect it. Roxas bit back saying a bad word—Xion might not be able to beat him in a race, but she knew her way around a Keyblade as well as he did. 

They crossed blades again, and Roxas tried to parry with Oblivion and jab with Oathkeeper. Xion had been expecting that though, and jumped back. She struck again with Kingdom Key and Roxas deflected the blow. Roxas pointed both of his Keyblades towards Xion, setting out twin beams of light. They were fast, but Xion was faster—she cartwheeled out of the way. A trick she had learned from Master Aqua no doubt. This was tougher than Roxas had anticipated. He couldn’t hope to win this match, if he couldn’t actually hit Xion. Not that he wanted to actually hurt her, mind you. But he didn’t want to lose the match either. 

Xion dodged another beam of light from Oathkeeper and danced out of the way when Roxas twisted his wrist and sent Oblivion hurling towards her. His Keyblade wound up embedded in the trunk of a particularly large oak tree. Roxas raised his hand and summoned Oblivion back. He felt a jolt of electricity at his back and whipped around like lightning. Xion was grinning wildly at him—it wasn’t often she used Thunder magic. Roxas leapt up onto a large tree stump. He’d make his move now.

“Waterga!”

Two enormous jets of water didn’t just splash out of Oathkeeper and Oblivion. They were much more like waves crashing against the seashore. Roxas had been to the beach enough times to know what it was like to be hit by a giant wave. The magically created water spread all over the area where he and Xion had been sparring.

Xion yelped and scurried up the nearest rock. The water lapped at the edges and Xion spread her arms as far as she could to maintain her balance. 

“Give up, Xion!” Roxas called. “I’ve won.”

“I’m not done yet,” Xion said. “I can still take you!”

She couldn’t. Not well, anyway. Xion was only just balancing on the rock she had climbed onto to escape the water, and she was losing her footing. Her boots weren’t like Kairi’s. Roxas couldn’t help but grin. Xion’s determination was actually pretty endearing. She was always really good at not giving up.

“Yah!” 

A beam of light erupted from the end of Xion’s Keyblade and before Roxas could do anything about it, it hit him in the stomach.

“Oof!”

_Splash!_

Cold! The water was cold! The water was freezing cold! Freezing cold! Blech! Roxas felt himself float down about a hundred yards, before he could feel earth and bark underneath his fingertips. The water had spread further than he’d realized. Oh well…at least Xion hadn’t…

_Splash_!

“Aaaiiii!”

Never mind, Xion had fallen in. 

oooo

Xion pulled off one of her boots and shook it, letting the water empty out of it. Yuck. But she had to give Roxas credit. That was one of the most powerful Water spells she had ever seen. Demyx was probably stronger with Water spells, when he was paying attention. Which was…pretty much never. So, yeah, that was one of the most powerful spells she’d seen.

Soaked her to the bone though…and these boots were new. Well, newish. She could still feel the dampness between her toes. Aww…she’d most likely get blisters. She hated getting blisters. 

“Sorry,” Roxas said sheepishly. “I didn’t think it’d be quite that bad.”

“Don’t apologize,” Xion said. It sounded wrong when Roxas apologized. Besides, this was training for real combat. Experimenting now, in a controlled environment, or at least, relatively controlled, was better than testing new spells and tactics against Heartless or Nobodies or…well, whatever else they might have to fight eventually. 

“Let’s go home,” Xion added, pulling off her other boot to shake out the water. “It’s nearly ten o’clock. Axel’s probably going to be waiting for us, by now.”

“Yeah,” Roxas said. “That sounds good. I’m hungry and…we can train some more after breakfast.”

“There’s more to training than running or sparring,” Xion said. “There’s those books Aqua and Ven sent us. We can study those.”

She paused for a moment and then pulled off her boots. She would walk home barefoot. Better a few funny looks than blisters. And their home wasn’t that far from the woods. And besides, Xion liked walking barefoot.

Roxas smiled at her and held out his hand. Xion took it with her free hand and they began walking. It was nice, walking with Roxas. It was kind of funny. Roxas could dual-wield Keyblades, but his hands could be very gentle too. She liked holding hands with Roxas.

Another funny thing was that although they weren’t walking nearly as fast as they had run, they made it out of the woods far more quickly than they had entered. Or maybe it just seemed that way. Axel said that time flew when you were having fun. 

A few people were up and about in the streets. Axel was just picking up the newspaper when Roxas and Xion showed up. He grinned at them, taking in their damp hair and clothes.

“What happened to you?” Axel asked. “Take a field trip to Atlantica?”

“Training incident,” Roxas said sheepishly. 

“Training incident?” Axel said, glancing at Xion. “What, was there a Heartless that tried to steal your shoes?”

“Something like that,” Xion said. She pressed her bare soles against the warm cobblestones making up the street. She smiled at Axel and then glanced at Roxas. He looked kind of…handsome, actually. And he was such a good friend to her…Xion got the urge to do something that sounded crazy, but if she didn’t do it now, she wasn’t sure she would ever do it.

Xion stood on tiptoe, and kissed Roxas on the cheek. His face went beet-red and Axel’s mouth fell open. 

“Gah!”

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Another day done for Rokushi Week, my dear readers! Leave a comment if you’re so inclined. I appreciate each and every one of you. 


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